Gardens by Kelly Productions

Today we spent six hours at the modern mecca of plant collecting: Plant Delights Nursery.  Bona fide plant goobers (like myself), avid enthusiasts, and passion-crazed beginners alike will find items of interest on this 10-acre property.  Tony Avent and his dream team of horticulturists continually amaze the horticultural world with their unprecedented palette of plants.  I could ramble on in hyperbole for paragraphs more, but you really just want to see some cool plants! 

Where to begin…Tony and I share a passion for underappreciated natives.  Tony and his cohorts have scoured native haunts of Texas and have uncovered a host of fun things.  Hardiness?  Eh, you never know.  Logically, it would seem unlikely.  Biogeographically speaking, it’s entirely possible seeing that at one time our entire continent rested at a more northerly latitude.  Let’s dream. 

In the same vein of thought, the GWA attendees sojourned to the JC Raulston Arboretum for an evening gala Friday night.  The late Raulston was a mentor to Tony Avent and select photos from that dark, rainy evening are included here (though you could foreseeably think they all came from the same garden).  Great minds you know.

Found below is a sampling of underappreciated natives and other outstanding plants from two fabulous gardens in the heart of USDA Zone 7b.